"Bigotry", frightening off new members, losing current members: What are we going to do?
We've just lost members because of posts containing various forms of what might be called "bigotry".
I'm sure other people just don't become members because of it.
I'm quite confused about this. I don't think much of it is meant seriously, but I've come to that view through several years of experience. And I also believe in staying around and challenging stuff, rather than logging off and not coming back. If I didn't believe in that, then I wouldn't have hung around long to enough to come to that view.
But this is of no help for new members, who might not be inclined to get involved in debates and discussions with people they view as bigoted fools.
We've lost quite a lof members over the last few years. There is a natural attrition rate which is inevitable and as old as the site, I'm sure. Then there are people who leave because of other people. Then there are people who get banned. Worst of all, we have had quite a few deaths.
To keep the site healthy, we need to attract and retain new members. I am starting to think we need to tackle this somehow. So I'd like to start a discussion about it.
As a starter for ten, here's a proposal. Stringent application of the rules. Anything that comes across as hateful or bigoted gets unnapproved. Repeat offenders get infracted. And no account is made for it being "funny", or "honest". For example:
careful mind.... they'll obviously appease you, doesn't mean your new sex is "true"
Now, the nature of gender identity is a valid topic of discussion. But asking about it in Julies "I came out" thread is inappropriate and insensitive, albeit on topic. And there are better ways to start the discussion than "doesn't mean your new sex is true". For example, you could have started a new thread, "Gender Identity" with the first post:
raas_2013 said:
I don't really understand the reasons for people feeling that they are not cisgendered*. Please could someone help me understand?
You might even include your own theories in it, so they could be corrected. I'm pretty sure no-one would take offence to that and leave Bluelight.
Why did you not do this?
*cisgendered - cis is the opposite to trans. Roughly speaking - cisgendered means "same gender identity as biological gender", transgendered means "different gender identity to biological gender". I think there are more nuances to it than that, for example biological gender is not uniform, gender is not binary, it might be a 2-dimensional category or even a 3-dimensional one. Some people are hermaphrodites for example.